Full moon over Ocean Park lit nude thief's way
By Nelson Sigelman
Published: September 10, 2009
The full moon brightly lit Ocean Park on the evening of September 3, illuminating the scene as the Oak Bluffs police tracked down and arrested a naked, intoxicated man who, police said, stole a bicycle and a car, broke into several parked cars, and attempted to enter a house on Ocean Park occupied by a mother and her young daughter.
Police arrested Robert Robinson, 27, on multiple counts of breaking and entering a motor vehicle, vandalizing a motor vehicle and larceny, larceny of a motor vehicle, unarmed burglary, and lewd and lascivious behavior.
Mr. Robinson was released on $1,000 bail later that night.
Police said Mr. Robinson provided a home address of Haverhill, but he was staying at the Island Inn in Oak Bluffs, part of an off-Island steel frame construction crew from Lawton Welding of Topsfield, here to erect a building on the Island.
Late on September 3, Oak Bluffs Police responded to a report of a pickup truck, left open and with the keys inside, stolen from Sea View Avenue. As officers began a search for the stolen vehicle they received reports that other vehicles had been broken into.
Officer Chris Oteri was investigating one of the breaks when he heard the faint screams of a female from across Ocean Park, according to a police report. At the same time, the officer received a radio report of a naked male attempting to break into a house on Ocean Avenue.
When he arrived at the house, a woman standing on the front steps told him the essential information, "he went around back, he took my bike, he is naked."
Under the brilliant moon, Officer Oteri ran after the cycling suspect. "I continued running down Samoset Avenue where I observed a male who appeared to be naked riding a bike …"
The officer caught up with the cyclist and identified himself as a police officer and ordered the naked man to the ground.
Mr. Robinson dropped the bike and faced the officer. The officer again ordered him down. The man said, "Why, I didn't do anything, what the [expletive] is your problem?"
Officer Oteri drew his pepper spray and told the man he would use it if the culprit did not comply. He did.
"Mr. Robinson was attempting to wear a dark colored T-shirt as if they were shorts," the officer wrote in his report. "Robinson had stepped through the arm and neck hole of the shirt with his legs, and nothing else."
When officers returned to the house on Ocean Park, the distraught woman told a harrowing tale. She was upstairs, and her young daughter was downstairs watching television. When her daughter heard a noise at the side window she got up, thinking it was her mother, and called out, "Mom, is that you?"
"When she got no response, she investigated and observed a naked male, Robinson, lifting the window open. When the two made eye contact is when she stated that Robinson went to the front door and opened it. The daughter began screaming, and the mother rushed down to find out what was going on."
Both the mother and daughter were terrified by the incident, police say. They were reassured by police that the man was in custody, and the mother was provided with the police department phone number.
During a search of the park, police found Mr. Robinson's clothes, license, and other items on a park bench near the fountain. They also found $1,000 in cash in denominations that matched the description of the contents of a purse taken from a vehicle. Police were able to return most of its contents to the owner, including her credit cards.
During the course of the investigation that night, police learned of two more vandalized vehicles. A witness told police she had seen "a naked man in a raincoat" riffling through a car earlier that night. She became scared and ran away.
According to the police report, Mr. Robinson has a lengthy history of similar incidents involving theft, breaking and entering, and home invasion. Whether he was clothed when performing these earlier acts is unclear.
Read his rights by police, Mr. Robinson said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know my [expletive] rights."
"Robinson had slightly slurred speech and had a strong odor of alcohol coming from his breath," police said. Mr. Robinson accused police of harassing him.
"At the station," police reported, "Robinson was being less than cooperative with the interview process, and the interview was terminated. As Robinson was being escorted out of the station, officers asked Robinson if the clothes we had were his. Robinson stated in a loud voice, ‘Yeah, those are mine, I want them back.'"
